This is the most important movie I have watched in recent memory.
wimp.com/thegovernment/
It is a 10 min. movie on the difference between all forms of government including Democracy and a Republic. I hope people will watch this as a family and discuss the kind of government we have. I will admit I didn’t know what an Oligarchy was, and it is the most popular form of government.

On Mother’s Day I asked my kids to tell me 2 things I do good and 1 thing I can improve on. My 18 year old son thanked me for teaching him how to read when he was 4 and thanked me for giving him the support to try anything he wanted try.
Sometimes you do so many things for your kids and don’t know if they care. This was nice to hear. Before I go on, you are probably wondering what I could improve on right? OK….he said I can get too up tight. (He’s probably right.)
My kids get pretty good grades. The only thing I have done to help, is to teach them to read before they went to school and do homework packets every summer. I thought some of you might be interested. (It takes all of one day and they are done for the whole summer)

Here are the packets I have been putting together today. I make a packet for each of my kids that take them about 15 minutes to complete. I make 1 packet per day, per kid, for the summer.
The day after school gets out I give them math facts tests and spelling tests. I do the math orally and whatever they hesitate on goes on the sheets. Then I type it up, make copies, and staple each day. The math facts worksheets and spelling lists are made for each child so they only work on the things they don’t know.
Here are the things I put in the packets.
Preschool
Tracing things so they are able to control their pencil
Simple dot to dots so they learn to count and write
Writing numbers 1-10
Then 1-100
Trace abc’s
Simple words dog, cat, dad, mom
Elementary
Writing numbers 1-1000 they are able to understand how numbers progress
Name piano notes
States and Capitols
Spelling words
Cursive (tracing)
Multiplication tables
Math facts (add, subtract, multiply, divide)
Junior High
Spanish words
Prime numbers
Memorize adverbs
Memorize prepositions
Memorize scriptures
Square roots
Spelling words (20 per week that they write 5 times each per day)
I also get those big curriculum books at Costco that is grade appropriate and tear some of those pages out.
When school starts my daughter is taking Spanish. I found some great links that have the words, plus the audio. I am going to have her do one link per day. Here is a sample:

Listen to each day 5 times
Day 1 http://www.spanicity.com/Spanish-Vocabulary/House/House.htm
Day 2 http://www.spanicity.com/Spanish-Vocabulary/Food-vegetables/Vegetable.htm
Day 3 http://www.spanicity.com/Spanish-Alphabet/spanish-alphabet.htm
Day 4 http://www.spanicity.com/numbers/cardinal-numbers-01.htm
Day 5 http://www.spanicity.com/Phrases/Courtesy/Courtesy.htm
Day 6 http://www.spanicity.com/Phrases/Greetings/Greetings.htm
Day 7 http://www.spanicity.com/Phrases/Meeting_People/Meeting_People.htm

If you have any questions about this don’t hesitate to leave me a comment and I will give you more details. I have done it for years and I think it has really paid off.

I heard Wendy Soderman tell her story on the Bob Proctor Cruise last year. Her story helps people know that they can do anything, if they have enough passion.
Wendy faces her challenges head on and turns them into gifts for the world. If you are in the education profession in anyway, you have to read about the school she has created. I hope someday every child in the world has a chance to get an education this way. Her school is positive and beautiful, not only that, her students learn faster and gain a total education, as well as, self esteem.
Her schools blow public school education out of the water in every way, including test scores, and she is a hero in her community.
She got started when she couldn’t find a preschool that would take her wheelchair bound son. Instead of giving up she started her own. She loved her school so much that when her son began to out grow the preschool she started an elementary school. She has a preschool, Ideal Elementary School and Dream Middle School.

Check out the pictures of her school. I wish an artist could come and paint every child’s school this way.
http://www.jcforms.com/idealphotoalbum/idealphotos.htm
Watch this video of Wendy and Kenny Logins. It is worth the trouble I promise!
I couldn’t get the video onto my blog so click below,
http://www.idealelementary.com
then click IDEAL School MEDIA (ARTICLES AND VIDEOS)
then hit, The IDEAL Story (A&E Special-video)